Leap of Faith

If you learn one thing about me right away, it’s that I have never really been a “wet my toes” kind of gal. I’m more like an all or nothing; sink or swim; full speed ahead or full-on lazy on the couch kind of gal. I’m the girl who insisted on learning to surf on vacation despite it being the wrong time of day and a harder board and subsequently broke her ankle. I’m that girl.

Ever since I was a little kid I have met every new challenge head on with 100% of my being, or I have just avoided it all together. As a child, I would let my room get messy to the point where I couldn’t see the floor and I no longer had any clothing in my dresser or closet. Then I would clean it incessantly for an entire day (or weekend!) and make sure every nook and cranny was meticulously organized with labels and dusted to boot. Needless to say, I drove my mother crazy! Why on earth would I do that to myself you ask? Excellent question! If any of you have the answer for me I would gladly welcome your thoughts, but at this point in my life I have just chalked it up to “that’s the way I was made”.

Something in me is hard-wired to do things completely and correctly from the start, which has its advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, I have a terrible knack for procrastination. I put things off until I know I have the time to do them perfectly (which is why Deborah might want to kill me for taking so long to submit this post). I do not like to leave things unfinished, and feel like I am letting people down if I say I will do something and it doesn’t work out exactly as I planned. As a result, I either avoid new things all together or I don’t share my goals and dreams with people until I have already begun to accomplish them. I’m working on letting people in more and reaching out for support along the way so I hope you all will be a part of that as I embark on my newest adventure here on Society Letters.

For those of you who are new to myself and my story, here is a little on how that adventure came to be. I was never kid who sat on the edge of a pool and then slowly walked down the stairs into the shallow end. I was that kid who did the running cannonball off the deep end before I even learned how to swim. Sometimes I end up in over my head (thus my fear of telling people I’m going to do said cannonball), but more often than not I end up surprising myself with what I am capable of. A month ago I had this crazy idea about starting a blog. I had recently joined Instagram and instantly connected with a world full of the most inspiring and encouraging people I had ever met. I was surprised by how many people liked the projects and home photos that I had to share, and by how many wanted to know if I had a blog where they could find a tutorial. At first I shrugged it off, knowing the time commitment it would require. And of course, my world-renowned procrastination was at work making up excuses. “You don’t have time to write a blog, plus you don’t even know how to write”. “You don’t have a nice enough camera to take pictures”. “You have done most of your projects already and didn’t take pictures along the way so what’s the point?”. “You know nothing about website design” and the old faithful “Maybe later, you just aren’t ready yet” which you can use to get out of just about anything. Now most people maybe would have taken those doubts and spent some time addressing them: slowly start to write up some posts, save up to buy a nicer camera, look into what it takes to set up a website, or maybe write a guest post or two on another blog. But I’m just not a “little bit here and there” person. So I jumped…..

Fast forward a month (one very crazy, frustrating, and amazing month), and I am now not only a blogger over at my own site A Cut Above the Rust, but a small business-owner making custom wood signs, and a contributing writer here on Society Letters! Like I said, I’m a full-speed ahead kind of girl. I decided to hit the ground running and throw my entire heart and soul out there for everyone to see. While I am terrified I may fall flat on my face, I could not be more proud of myself for following my dreams and I’m so excited to see where all these new ventures may take me. If nothing else, I have found myself in the company of these thirteen amazing women who I will forever call my friends, and that in itself is worth the risk.

I know for many of you I may sound crazy, but I hope you are inspired to make a leap in your life that you may have been putting off. Whether it’s something small like saying “Hi” to that cute boy that lives next door, or a major life change like selling all your possessions and moving to Zimbabwe, I invite you to jump. Walk down to the end of that dock, ignore the warning signs, and just dive in! Or at least let me give you a little push :)